Dogs' Teeth
by breezypelt
Summary: -warning; may contain Sunrise spoilers- Jingo and the cats living in the abandoned twoleg-nest have been terrorized by dogs ever sense Sol left, but it takes the death of an old, wise tom to make them realize they need ThunderClan's help to survive.
1. Final Goodbyes

Sounds of monsters and twolegs filled the night in the dark and desolate twoleg-place. Frenzied barking sounded from one side of a fence, followed by a loud yowl of pain. A very scrawny brown tom with a muzzle grey from age ran around the side, blood dripping from his flanks. Three huge dogs followed him, their barking never ending.

One of the dogs, growing bold, pulled off from the others and in a mad dash towards the cat fastened his slavering jaws around his hind leg. The tom struggled and hissed, turning around to rake his claws across the dog's muzzle. The dog yelped in pain and surprise, and stepped back to the others.

"Pod!" A loud, feminine voice mewed followed by a hiss. A dark tabby she-cat leapt out of the shadows, a pale grey tom and a small speckled brown tom racing behind her. The dark tabby raked her claws down one of the dog's flanks while the other two cats fought off the other ones. Thoroughly battered and wounded, the dogs turned tail and ran.

"Pod…" The tabby she-cat murmured sadly at the hurt cat. "Pod… Are you okay..?" She sniffed at his leg and nosed him to his paws.

"Ahh…" He moaned in a voice heavily laden with pain, "I... don't think I can make it much longer, Jingo..."

"You have to, Pod!" Jingo yowled, lashing her tail and letting the old brown tom lean on her shoulder. "Chirp, Frisk! Help me bring him back to the den!" She called over her shoulder to the accompanying cats.

"He's bleeding badly, Jingo…" Chirp, the grey tom, murmured quietly. "I'm not sure he'll make it back to the den…"

Jingo whirled on him, fur standing on end. "Are you suggesting that I just leave him here!? If he's going to go- which he won't! - he should be at the den with everyone else!"

Chirp narrowed his eyes at the tabby she-cat and shook his head.

"He won't last any longer, Jingo. He's old, and hurt. He's dying, Jingo. The life is bleeding out of him. I suggest laying him under the bush there and saying your final goodbyes."

Jingo sighed and listened to Pod's shallow breathing. "You're right, Chirp… Go back to the den, tell everyone what's happened. I'd.. I'd like to be alone with Pod.."

"Very well, Jingo." Chirp nodded, his ears twitching with sorrow of leaving his friend to die.

"Is.. is Pod going to die…!?" Frisk mewed, fear in his eyes. "I'll miss him..!" His tail drooped with despair.

Pod coughed, raising his glazing eyes at the young tom. "I'll be gone.. soon. Don't worry, young Frisk. I'll be with you in here." He set his tail near Frisk's heart before breaking into a coughing fit.

Watching the two cats leave into the darkness, she lead Pod over to the dark-leaved bush nearby.

"Are you sure you won't survive..?" Jingo murmured, pressing her nose into Pod's fur.

"I'm sure, J… Jingo.." He coughed out, splaying out on the ground with a sigh. "My old bones want rest… And they'll get it…"

Looking up, Pod's glassy eyes met Jingo's clear ones.

"Oh..! Jingo…!" He murmured, his voice sounding distant. "Find.. Find Brambleclaw.. And his patrol. They'll help…" He trailed off.

"What..?!" Jingo gasped, whiskers twitching as she remembered the forest cat's who wanted to find the rogue, Sol. "Surely I can't find them! I'll never find their forest.. I don't even know what way they came from..!"

"Then the dogs will kill you… One by one… by one.." Pod's voice trailed off one final time, and Jingo waited until she knew her friend was dead to press her nose into his fur one final time.

"Goodbye, Pod. Your death is surely a loss…"

"Jingo! Pod is dead!?" A dark, heavyset tom mewed in disbelief as she walked into the abandoned twoleg nest they used as a home.

Jingo inclined her dark head. "Yes, Hussar. He's dead and gone. He was killed by the dogs." On the last word, a hiss came from behind her.

"Dogs… Mangy vile fox-dung eaters!" a cold voice came from a dark pelted tom. "What do we do now, Jingo?"

Unblinking, she answered. "We need to go find the forest cats that came here some moons ago."

Hisses and mews of disbelief came from around her.

"Jingo, how will we do that!?" The black tom hissed again.

"I don't know, Jet. But they're our only hope."


	2. Of Friends and Enemies

Leaves and twigs littered the ground in an array of many different colors.

Leaf-fall was arriving, and the forest showed it. Not that Jayfeather could see any of it, but the blind medicine cat could sense it in the air around his den.

His den. He no longer had to share it with Leafpool- his mother, he grudgingly corrected himself –as his sister, the late Hollyleaf, forced her to eat deathberries before running off into a the caves only to die herself.

The gray tabby tom sniffed at the stores of herbs in the den, realizing that he would have to fetch more tansy.

Not having an apprentice, he'd have to do it himself. He padded out into the clearing of ThunderClan camp, and out the entrance.

"Jayfeather?" A tom's voice mewed. "Where are you going?"

Jayfeather recognized the scent of Birchfall, seeing the golden tom in his mind.

"We're running low on tansy…" He murmured.

"Do you need someone to go with you?" Birchfall questioned him, setting his tail on Jayfeather's flank.

"No!" Jayfeather mewed, a sharp edge to his voice. "I'm fine." _I'm not helpless!_, he added to himself.

Birchfall inclined his head. "Call if you need help. Sol's still out there, somewhere."

Jayfeather twitched his ears to show he heard, and padded off into the forest, kicking up leaves as he went.

Scents surrounded the young tabby tom. Scents of fallen leaves, tansy and other herbs, other cats, and prey.

Locating a bundle of the yellow tansy plants, he nipped off a few of their heads, making sure not to take in any of the healing juices.

_Tansy… good for curing coughs, but only take in small doses…_ He added in his head, sniffing the air.

A new but familiar scent was nearby, and he felt fur on his.

"Spottedleaf!" Jayfeather recognized her scent. "It's been so long since I've seen you.."

"Jayfeather. Now you know who your parents' truly are." She mewed in her sweet voice, warily. "I have an urgent message for you."

Jayfeather was quickly at attention. "What is it?" He mewed, whiskers twitching.

"Watch for the friend who helped you find an enemy."

Jayfeather narrowed his eyes, tail lashing at the already fading StarClan medicine cat.

"What is that supposed to mean!?" He yowled, but Spottedleaf did not answer, nor did she return.

"Huh… Watch for the friend who helped me find an enemy..?" He puzzled over the message. "But what enemy..? And what friend?!"

He bent to pick up his dropped tansy to bring back to the den.

He nudged it in with the rest of his herbs and then padded towards Firestar's den.

"Jayfeather?" The mew came from ThunderClan deputy, Brambleclaw. "You're back from gathering herbs, I see. I... I need to talk to you..."

Jayfeather felt the despair coming off of him in waves. Until recently, Brambleclaw had thought he was Jayfeather's, Hollyleaf's, and Lionblaze's father.

But in her rage, Hollyleaf had announced it to everyone that they were the kits of Leafpool and Crowfeather. They were HalfClan _and _they're mother was a medicine cat.

Jayfeather shook his head.

"I can't talk right now. I have a message for Firestar."

Brambleclaw looked unsure but padded off. "Maybe later, then…"

Jayfeather walked in to Firestar's den, scenting the ThunderClan leader sitting before him.

"Firestar." He mewed, hoping his leader wasn't sleeping. "Firestar, I have a message from StarClan."

"Oh, yes?" The red-furred tom mewed, jaws stretched open in a yawn. "What is it?" He looked at Jayfeather with kindness in his eyes, but Jayfeather felt his hurt coming off of him, too. _Too lose both his kits in one blow,_ Jayfeather thought, _Must be hurting him badly.. Maybe I'll give him some poppy seeds tonight._

"Spottedleaf came to me earlier. She said 'Watch for the friend who helped you find an enemy'. Do you know what she meant?"

Firestar shook his head, his tail lashing.

"I don't know, Jayfeather, but.. I have a feeling we'll know soon."


	3. Hunting

"Lionblaze!" A voice mewed. "Are you up for a hunting patrol?"

Lionblaze opened his eyes to see Hazeltail, a small grey-and-white she-cat.

Staggering to his feet, he nodded at the pretty young cat.

"Of course..! You woke me up, though." He mewed, twitching his whiskers.

She let out a _mrrow_ of amusement.

"You can't very well hunt in your sleep!" She mewed. "Brambleclaw wants us to go, and take Icepaw with us."

The two young cats padded out into ThunderClan camp to fetch Icepaw, who was playing with Whitewing's kits.

"Come on, Ivykit! Like this!" She mewed in frustration as the small tabby kit struggled with her grey sister, Dovekit.

"Dovekit, use your small-ness to your advantage! Quick, duck under her!"

Dovekit gave up trying to maul her sister to chase a beetle, and Ivykit quickly joined her.

Icepaw shook her head and sighed. "Kits..." She muttered.

Hazeltail let out a purr and set her tail on Icepaw's flank.

"You sound like a mentor before you're even a warrior, Icepaw!"

Icepaw glanced at the ground sheepishly.

Lionblaze licked his chest-fur and lashed his tail.

"Are we going hunting or not?" He asked, grumpy still from being woken.

"Of course we are mouse-brain." Hazeltail purred good-naturedly.

"Icepaw, Brambleclaw wants you to come hunting with us!"

Icepaw looked up at the pretty young warrior and twitched her ears.

"Great, what are we waiting for!?"

The three cats padded off into the forest, tails held high and fur ruffled.

"Great catch, Icepaw!" Hazeltail complimented the apprentice, who had just caught a squirrel.

"Thanks!" The small white she-cat purred, "Nothing like yours, though."

As the two she-cats shared compliments, Lionblaze stalked through the grass towards a mouse.

_Don't step on any twigs, Lionblaze… Keep your tail low…_ He reminded himself.

Suddenly, the mouse's heartbeat combined with the heartbeat of another small mammal. _A vole and a mouse? Can I catch two at once?_

He stalked forward at the two creatures nibbling on grasses.

Suddenly the winds shifted, and Lionblaze leapt at them.

With one paw on the vole, and his jaws around the mouse, he caught them both.

He quickly decapitated the mouse, and nipped the vole at the base of it's skull.

"Wow, Lionblaze!" Icepaw's mew came from behind him.

"You got two at once!? Amazing!"

The golden tabby tom felt heat coming off of himself at the apprentices praise, but found himself seeking praise from Hazeltail.

"Yes, well done Lionblaze!" The purr came from Hazeltail.

"Lets bring these back to camp; maybe Brambleclaw will want us to patrol the borders!"

The three cats, with prey dangling from their jaws, padded back through the filtering light to the ThunderClan camp.


	4. Foxdung Halfclan Kits!

"F..Firestar! The border patrol is being attacked b..by WindClan!"

The startled yowl came from a breathless Foxpaw, hardly a minute after Lionblaze set his prey on the fresh-kill pile.

Firestar leapt up, a growl in his throat.

"How dare they!? After all we've been through together; After all we've done for them!?" The ThunderClan leader's tail was lashing.

"Brambleclaw, Lionblaze, Berrynose, Hazeltail, Brackenfur, and Birchfall! Go help them. Everyone else needs to stay case they come here."

The cats in question ran into the forest towards the border along WindClan, where screeches and yowls of pain were heard.

Lionblaze and the other ThunderClan cats leapt into the fight, helping the border patrol hold their ground.

"Stop…!" A low growl came from a dark brown tom lying on the ground, his paw twisted at an odd angle. "We've come for the fox-dung HalfClan kits! They don't belong here! They shouldn't be alive… Their mother was ThunderClan's _medicine cat_, for StarClan sake!"

Lionblaze growled, and Brambleclaw stepped in front of him protectively.

_He.. he still cares about me even though he knows we're not kin..!?_ The thought rapidly flashed through his mind as here realized that he still cared for the dark tabby deputy, too.

"Lionblaze and Jayfeather belong more than you." He snarled, fur jetting out at all angles and his tail lashing.

The tom on the ground's eyes widened. "So their sister is no longer..?" He trailed off.

"Hollyleaf is dead. So is their mother."

His eyes narrowed. "Then our job is easier. We've come to get rid of the kits. Let us and there will be no more problems."

Brambleclaw unsheathed his claws. "Never. As long as they're part of this clan, we will fight for them."

"If that is what you wish." The tom muttered as the cats around him unsheathed their claws and leaped on the nearest cat they could get to.

Lionblaze raked his claws down the flank of a ginger WindClan warrior, feeling his blood boil.

A hiss came from behind him, and he hardly had enough time to look before he was pounced on.

"You are scum! You shouldn't exist! And since we share the same father, I'll be the one to destroy you!" Breezepelt yowled, claws digging into Lionblaze's flesh.

Lionblaze rolled over, out from under the black tom, and slashed at his muzzle.

"You _will_ die tonight, Lion_kit_." Breezepelt growled, walking him into a corner between two bushes. "You're MINE."

Breezepelt leapt onto Lionblaze's back, tearing his claws through more flesh and matted golden fur.

Between yowls, Lionblaze reared onto his hind legs, slamming his assailant into one of the bushes.

"No, Breeze_kit_." He snarled, tail lashing. "I won't die. You might, though!"

He turned from the crumpled black tom and ran to help the patrol.

Hazeltail was fighting off a grey tom, and Brackenfur was fighting side-by-side with Birchfall.

Suddenly, a screech filled the air.

"Enough. Stop fighting." It was the dark tom with the hurt paw.

He turned his attention to Brambleclaw, with a snarl.

"Tell your leader this: We'll give him two moons to decide. Get rid of the rotten kits, or we will."

The patrol of battered WindClan cats slunk off into the darkness, Breezepelt- covered in scratches from the bushes- giving Lionblaze a growl before leaving.

Brambleclaw laid his tail on Lionblaze's flank.

"We _will _protect you…" He murmured. "Let's go back to camp…"


End file.
